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Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year

Summary

The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…

Matches: 14 hits

  • … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the …
  • … be done by observation during prolonged intervals’ ( letter to D. T. Gardner, [ c . 27 August …
  • … pleasures of shooting and collecting beetles ( letter from W. D. Fox, 8 May [1874] ).  Such …
  • … And … one looks backwards much more than forwards’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 11 May [1874] ). …
  • … was an illusory hope.— I feel very old & helpless’  ( letter to B. J. Sulivan, 6 January [1874] …
  • … inferred that he was well from his silence on the matter ( letter from Ernst Haeckel, 26 October …
  • … in such rubbish’, he confided to Joseph Dalton Hooker ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874] …
  • … that Mr Williams was ‘a cheat and an imposter’ ( letter from T. H. Huxley, 27 January 1874 ). …
  • … his, ‘& that he was thus free to perform his antics’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 29 January [1874
  • … Darwin had allowed ‘a spirit séance’ at his home ( letter from T. G. Appleton, 2 April 1874 ). …
  • … edition, published in 1842 ( Correspondence  vol. 21, letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 17 …
  • … Hooker, and finally borrowed one from Charles Lyell ( letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 8 January …
  • … to take so sweetly all the horrid bother of correction’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 21 [March …
  • … Ross, September 1874 ). The American philosopher Chauncey Wright sent a detailed letter

Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?

Summary

'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . .  What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…

Matches: 26 hits

  • What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’ ( letter to Francis Galton, 8 November [1872] …
  • anything more on 'so difficult a subject, as evolution’ ( letter to ARWallace,  27 July
  • best efforts, set the final price at 7 s.  6 d.  ( letter from RFCooke, 12 February 1872 ) …
  • condition as I can make it’, he wrote to the translator ( letter to JJMoulinié, 23 September
  • translation remained unpublished at the end of the year ( letter from C.-FReinwald, 23 November
  • to the comparative anatomist St George Jackson Mivart ( letter to St GJMivart,  11 January
  • comparison of Whale  & duck  most beautiful’ ( letter from ARWallace, 3 March 1872 ) …
  • paper by the American mathematician and philosopher Chauncey Wright. The republication of Wrights
  • a person as I am made to appear’, complained Darwin ( letter to St GJMivart, 5 January 1872 ). …
  • Darwin would renounce `fundamental intellectual errors’ ( letter from St GJMivart, 6 January
  • was silly enough to think he felt friendly towards me’ ( letter to St GJMivart, 8 January [1872
  • hoping for reconciliation, if only `in another world’ ( letter from St GJMivart,  10 January
  • have been ungracious in him not to thank Mivart for his letterHe promised to send a copy of the
  • partly in mind, `chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’ ( letter to ARWallace, 3 August [1872] …
  • Darwinism is to be the theme. Surely the world moves!’ ( letter from Mary Treat, 13 December 1872
  • to find that Weismann accepted it at least in part ( letter to August Weismann, 5 April 1872 ). ‘I
  • few naturalists in England seem inclined to believe it’ ( letter to Herman Müller, [before 5 May
  • reached the buzzing place where I myself was standing’ ( letter to Hermann Müller, [before 5 May
  • … ‘as for myself it is dreadful doing nothing’ ( letter to THHuxley, 22 October [1872] ). He was
  • to stand closer (a serried mass) and to be more erect’ ( letter to Briton Riviere, 19 May [1872] ) …
  • and amused rather than offended by `that clever book’ ( letter to JMHerbert, 21 November 1872
  • wrote offering Arthur Mays drawings shortly afterwards ( letter from Samuel Butler to Francis
  • … 'exactly where, from his ignorance, he feels no doubts’ ( letter to FCDonders, 17 June
  • help or advice during the yearIn addition to encouraging Chauncey Wright to publish on Mivarts
  • produce a corresponding effect on my mind’ ( letter to Chauncey Wright, 6 April 1872 ).  A
  • Ruck, the sister of an old schoolfriend; he married Amy in 1874Francis, still a medical student

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings

Summary

‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…

Matches: 20 hits

  • … attack upon Darwin’s son George, in an anonymous review in 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, …
  • … On 8 January , he told Hooker: ‘I will write a savage letter & that will do me some good, if I …
  • … to the Editor … Poor Murray shuddered again & again’ ( letter from J. D. Hooker, 16 January …
  • … laid to rest, another controversy was brewing. In December 1874, Darwin had been asked to sign a …
  • … botanical research and had visited Down House in April 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letters …
  • … offered to pay the costs for printing an additional 250 ( letter to John Murray, 3 May 1875 ). …
  • … & bless the day That ever you were born (letter from E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 …
  • … A scientific friendship had developed between the men in 1874, and this was enhanced by Romanes’s …
  • … that the originally red half has become wholly white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 …
  • … pp. 188–90). He drew attention to this discussion in a letter to George Rolleston, remarking on 2 …
  • … Darwin wrote, ‘I beg ten thousand pardon & more’ ( letter to Francis Darwin, [ c . February …
  • … signed himself, ‘Your affect son … the proofmaniac’ ( letter from Francis Darwin, 1 and 2 May [1875 …
  • … both critical and reverential. On 16 July he received a letter from an advocate of women’s …
  • … her presentation copy of Insectivorous plants ( letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 July [1875] ). Such …
  • … of my house within the short time I can talk to anyone’ ( letter to John Lubbock, 3 May [1875] ). …
  • … and had agreed to see him at Down with Thiselton-Dyer ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 7 July 1875 …
  • … had learned of Lyell’s failing health from Hooker in 1874 and January 1875. On 22 February, he was …
  • … of one his most avid American supporters, the philosopher Chauncey Wright. Wright had published …
  • … lay of hair in eyelashes and on arms, a typically lengthy letter full of personal observations, …
  • … examination it was pronounced to be of a ‘high type’ ( letter from Woodward Emery, 17 September …

John Murray

Summary

Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…

Matches: 18 hits

  • end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburns terms ( Letter 856 ). Instead he asked his friend
  • John Murray, to open negotiations with his own publisher ( Letter 824 ). Lyells talk with Murray
  • have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business
  • copies some pages in Darwins chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an
  • … & make the poor workman some present’ (12 June [1849] Letter 1245 ). Darwins next
  • hisbig species book’; on 18 June 1858, he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace with the
  • asked Lyell to act as his intermediary with John Murray ( Letter 2437 ), who, without even reading
  • not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a retail
  • proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all Murrays
  • … – and a second edition was immediately called for ( Letter 2549 ). In the end Murray paid Darwin
  • … (Variation ), but work progressed slowly ( Letter 3078 ); meanwhile in 1862 Murray published  On
  • Murray only offered Darwin half profits for this title ( Letter 3261 ); it was never a best-seller
  • … ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray decided to print
  • to Brazil, the beginning of a life-long correspondence ( Letter 4881 ). Subsequently Darwin
  • the risk himself. Murray suggested printing 750 copies ( Letter 6597 ), but Darwin decided on 1000
  • fail, I think, to be much read’ (28 September [1870] Letter 7329 ). Murray decided to print 2500
  • hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was
  • proved very slow ( Letter 9071 ). At the end of 1874, Darwin offered Murray a new book,  …